DESIGNING A COST-EFFECTIVE, PATIENT-FACING DIGITAL STETHOSCOPE FOR TELEMEDICAL CARDIAC AUSCULTATION

ABSTRACT

Introduction: The COVID-19 pandemic catalyzed growth of virtual medicine, challenging providers to adapt their standard protocols for telehealth. During this time, cardiologists were unable to gather numerical/graphical heart data to guide therapy. Many examination technologies exist in-person to obtain this data, but they are not engineered for patient use during virtual visits. Objective: The team sought to develop an inexpensive diagnostic point-of-care device designed to work with telehealth applications and provide patients with the ability to transmit data on cardiovascular function to physicians in real time. Methods: The AusculBand used clinician and patient input for final design format. The AusculBand is shaped like a wristband and encapsulates a custom bell, microphone, and novel circuitry to facilitate self-auscultation for live transmission to a virtual physician. Frequency response testing was designed to verify the AusculBand’s captured cardiac sound frequency range. A comparative study was designed to test audio quality against and the Eko Duo’s, a leading competitor. Repeated cardiac auscultation signals at different points and background noise using both devices were obtained to quantify signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) on one user. Results: During frequency response analysis, the AusculBand captured frequencies up to 1997Hz in response to a signal that swept through a range of 0-3kHz. These results were within 0.2% of the 2kHz upper-limit of the cardiac range. SNR testing showed 27.29dB for the AusculBand and 24.02dB for the Eko Duo. The AusculBand is nearly twice as loud as the Eko Duo, and maintains a projected price of $80 (Eko Duo $320). Conclusions: The AusculBand is an inexpensive, patient-oriented digital stethoscope that beats industry standards in SNR and is compatible with existing telehealth platforms. Future modifications will add a single-lead ECG to promote the device as an all-in-one telemedicine tool for virtual cardiac analysis. [Formula presented] [Formula presented]